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Worldwide
trends indicate that solar energy is becoming a much more important
alternative energy source. Each day, more solar energy bathes the
Earth than its 5.9 billion inhabitants could consume in equivalent
electric power in 27 years.
Solar
energy is the least polluting and most inexaustable of all known
energy sources. Even the other "renewables" have some
significant drawbacks. Today we are just beginning to tap its potential.
While solar energy has been available to mankind since prehistoric
times, we have not been able to use it as effectively as other sources.
A survey
of institutions and organisations specialising in solar energy development
indicates new momentum and public interest in solar energy.
Solar
Power Applications
Several
kinds of very practical solar energy systems are in use today. The
two most common are passive solar heated homes (or small buildings),
and small stand-alone photovoltaic (solar electric) systems.
These
two applications of solar energy have proven themselves popular
over a decade of use. They also illustrate the two basic methods
of harnessing solar energy: solar thermal systems, and solar electric
systems. The solar thermal systems convert the radiant energy of
the sun into heat, and then use that heat energy as desired. The
solar electric systems convert the radiant energy of the sun directly
into electrical energy, which can then be used as most electrical
energy is used today.
Some
effective
solar energy systems are: domestic water heating systems,
remote
solar powered water pumping
systems, and remote electric power systems for radio repeaters.
Of
course, most of our spacecraft use solar power for their instrumentation
and communication. The Mir Cooperative Solar Array Program is one
example. Solar power is now being used widely around the world,
even in remote areas, for pumping water, drying crops and lighting.
Dramatic
leaps in the application of solar technology are being made in architectural
and engineering work using large, custom-made photovoltaic panels
as walls, atriums and skylights to generate power in new buildings.
The technique has been in used in Europe and Japan and is attracting
worldwide. Germans have perfected the design of a huge shoebox-like
generating container made of photovoltaics. Inside the container
are nine buildings receiving solar power. And the Japanese have
built a high-rise with a photovoltaic outer skin.
Endless
applications of this engineering are on the horizon. They include
solar panels on open space at major airports to power airfield systems;
median strips converted to solar generators along roads and highways;
panels on railroad-rights-of-way. Any flat surface that can collect
sunlight will do.
Several
applications of solar energy are now being tested, and may be used
in the near future. Some of these are: large scale photovoltaic
systems supplying power to the electric utility grid and solar thermal
electric power systems to supply power to the utility grid (power
tower systems).
Solar
power vs. fossil fuel
Fossil
fuels are a finite energy source. During the 21st century increased
energy demands by an increasing world population will force the
transition to solar power.
Solar energy is the only potential replacement for fossil fuels
on a large scale. One of the most far-reaching environmental benefits
of solar power, if used widely, generating power from the sun will
reduce, and ultimately eliminate, noxious toxic residue from fossil-fuel
industrial generators and motor vehicles.
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